Sports glove

ABSTRACT

THE INVENTION RELATES PRIMARILY TO A GLOVE TO BE WORN BY A QUATERBACK IN FOOTBALL TO TEACH PROPER CONTROL OF THE BALL FOR PASSING. ESSENTIALLY, THE GLOVE COMPRISES AT PARTIAL HAND ENCLOSURE WHICH LEAVES AT LEAST TWO JOINTS OF EACH FINGER AND THE THUMB FREE AND NOT COVERED. A PAD IS POSITIONED ON THE PALM TO COVER THE INNER JOINTS OF EACH FINGER AND FORCE THE USER OF THE GLOVE TO HOLD THE BALL ON HIS FINGERTIPS TO EFFECT PASSING CONTROL THEREOF. THE PAD ON THE PALM FILLS THE CUP-SHAPED OPENING PORTION OF THE PALM ADJACENT THE KNUCKLES OR INNER JOINT OF THE FINGERS AND PREVENTS A PLAYER FROM PALMING THE BALL WHILE HANDLING IT IN ONE HAND FOR PASSING.

Sept.Y 21, 1971 1'. G. DIMITROFF sPRTs GLOVE Filed sept. 15, 1969 mvemon THOMAS G. DIMITROFF Mnfwun ATTORNEYS 3,606,614 SPORTS GLOVE Thomas G. Dimitrof, 512 Maxine Drive, Oxford, Ohio 45056 Filed Sept. 15, 1969, Ser. No. 857,715

Int. Cl. A41c 19/00 U.S. Cl. 2--159 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates primarily to a glove to be worn by a quarterback in football to teach proper control of the ball for passing. Essentially, the glove comprises a partial hand enclosure which leaves at least two joints of each finger and the thumb free and not covered. A pad is positioned on the palm to cover the inner joints of each finger and force the user of the glove to hold the ball on his fingertips to effect passing control thereof. The pad on the palm fills the cup-Shaped opening portion of the palm adjacent the knuckles or inner joint of the fingers and prevents a player from palming the ball while handling it in one hand for passing.

It has long been the contention of good quarterback coaches that the grip of the football is essential to passing control. The ball should be gripped with the fingers slightly overlapping the laces a little behind the middle of the belly of the ball. A most important point to remember is that the ball must be grasped with the pads of the first digits of the fingers. Many coaches teach a good check to this end is to slide the index nger of the opposite hand between the ball and the palm of the gripping hand. If the i finger slides easily, a proper grip is incorporated. If not, then the grip should be adjusted so that this may be done. The fingers and fingertips should control the ball as the more of the palm that touches the ball, the less control a quarterback has thereof.

One of the biggest faults of young quaterbacks around the country is the improper grip. The novice quaterback has a tendency to palm the ball. This results in a poor pass with less control and less speed. An apt comparison of this is made with relation to baseball. A fast ball is held with the fingertips for best results. A change up pitch is thrown with the hand, palming the ball. Any baseball player knows that a change up pitch is slow and difficult to control.

Therefore, it is the general object of the invention to provide a partial glove that utilizes padding therein to force the user of the glove to get the ball away from the palm and into the fingertips. The padding is a constant reminder to the quarterback about fingertip action and control. Constant use of the glove will strengthen the fingertips for better performance. The invention relates basically to a practice tool for pre-season and offseason throwing to make the grip become molded and automatic. However, if the glove would be needed in a game situation for added confidence in correction, it could certainly be utilized.

The aforesaid object of the invention and other objects which will become apparent as the description proceeds are achieved by providing a partial glove to aid in handling objects which consists essentially of a body portion extending around the hand to cover at least the palm thereof while exposing at least two joints on all fingers and thumb, a soft pad carried by the body portion extending across the palm to substantially cover the innermost joint of the fingers and fill the cup shaped portion of the palm adjacent such joint.

For a better understanding of the invention reference should be had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

lUnited States Patent O 3,606,614 Patented Sept. 2l, 1971 ICC FIG. l is a plan view of the palm portion of a partial glove comprising the preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the glove of FIG. 1 taken off line 2-2 thereof; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged broken away cross-sectional configuration of the glove of FIG. 1 taken online 3-3 thereof.

With reference to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, numeral 10 indicates generally a partial glove which comprises a body portion 12 with an opening 14 for the thumb and cut-off individual finger sections 16 through 22, respectfully. Preferably the body portion extends at least to the wrist of the user. A suitable strap 23 cooperating with snaps or Velcro fasteners can be used to insure a good fit of the gloove. If a nylon knit or stretch type material is utilized, then a locking or clasping of the gloove to the band or wrist by strap 23V is not necessary. The position of a right hand in the glove is indicated by the dotted lines 24. It should be quite readily understood that the glove can be solid on the back or can have an opening such as many golf gloves have, for example, but that the invention contemplates that at least two joints of each of the fingers and thumb will be free and not covered in any manner by the glove body l12. I have found that the best type of glove most readily adapted to meet the conditions of the invention is a full golf glove where the fingers are cut-off as illustrated in FIG. l and the entire thumb portion is removed.

The essencer of the invention is achieved by providing a soft pad 26 positioned substantially as shown in FIG. 1. The pad 26 is preferably very thin at all edges but tapers to a thicker cross-section towards the center thereof, as is most clearly shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The pad 26 is preferably made of some soft sponge rubber or plastic foam of a water repellent type and may be enclosed as an integral part of the glove 10 or simply attached to the outer surface of the glove by cement, sewing or other suitable means. In effect, the pad 26 has slight extending portions 28, 30 and 32 cooperating with the `finger section portions 18, 20 and 22, respectively. The pad 26 is designated to cover substantially the entire first joint of the users iingers. In the normal hand the pad will extend from substantially the line on the hand normally indicating the head as defined by the art or practice of palm reading and extending past the line indicating the heart and up to the lines at the base of each finger where the base joint bends into the palm. The head line is indicated in yFIG. 1 by numeral 34 while the heart line is indicated by numeral 36, and the base line indicated by numeral 38.

Preferably, the invention does not contemplate that the pad will cover the entire knuckle area of the last finger cooperating with finger section opening 16 since the first three sections 18, 20, 22 are the most important towards control. If the pad extends over the knuckle joint of the little finger, it tends to prevent proper closure of the hand to achieve the gripping position. The tapered bulging, somewhat lenticular-shape configuration of the pad 26, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, tends to fill the gap in the palm portion of the user of the glove when the hand is gripping a football in a passing configuration. The thickness of the pad 26 at about its center point is substantially the same thickness as the end of the index finger of the opposite hand, so that in use, this section of the pad will preferably rest against the ball. However, obviously, even though the ball may rest against the pad 26, control of the ball depends upon the contact of the tips of the fingers and the thumb therewith.

FIG. 3 very clearly shows that the outer end of pad 26 substantially covers the knuckle area or the inner joint of each of the fingers and extends down into the palm portion of the hand.

While the invention has only illustrated and described the use of the glove with respect to a quarterback in football, it should be understood that the glove might also be utilized for baseball pitching and basketball shooting where again the ball should be controlled by the fingertips of the hand and the purpose of the glove is to force the ball away from palming which effects poor control of the ball with less accuracy and speed. It should be realized, however, that the positioning of the pad is considerably different from that which is necessary to fill the palm portion for use in bowling for example where the pad must be moved considerably further down to the palm portion of the hand to accomplished the desired feature such as is shown in Patent No. 3,031,680.

While in accordance with the patent statutes, only the best known embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be particularly understood that the invention is not limited thereto or thereby, but that the inventive scope is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A partial glove to aid in handling objects which consist essentially of a body portion extending in skin tight relation around the hand to cover at least the palm thereof while exposing at least two joints of all fingers and thumb, and

a soft pad carried by the body portion having a body portion which is lenticular in shape extending from very thin edges to a thicker contoured portion at the center, the main portion of the pad extending from substantially the head line of the palm to the base line of the fingers to fully cover the innermost joints of at least the first three lingers and to fill the cupshaped portion of the palm adjacent such joints, the pad also including addition portions contiguous with and extending from the main portion out at least two of the fingers so as to extend past the base line of the fingers.

2. A glove according to claim 1 where the pad does not cover the innermost joint of the little finger, and where the pad is made from a Water repellent foam and is adhesively secured to the outer surface of the body portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,479,771 1/1924 Campbell 2--16 2,465,136 3/1949 Troccoli 2-161A 2,845,628 8/1958 Dell 2-20 3,031,680 5/1962 Compiano 2-161A 3,344,436 10/1967 Stubbs 2159 3,398,951 8/1968 Disko 273-54B 3,262,702 7/1966 Kovacs 273-54B 3,496,573 2/1970 Kuckar et al. 2-161 3,501,773 3/1970 Stansberry et al. 2--159 3,496,573 2/1970 Kucher et al 2-161 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner G. V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 2-20; 273--54 

